Month: May 2018

Maxx Williams and Nick Boyle haven’t panned out as planned, but Hayden Hurst and Mark Andrews join a competitive position.

Hurst doesn’t have comparable red-zone production to Andrews, but he does show reliable hands, which he flashed during the team’s rookie minicamp, per the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec. “He looked very fluid and sharp running routes and decisive in everything he did. He also caught just about everything with the exception of a lunging one-handed attempt at a pass in the back corner of the end zone.”

Coleman and Toilolo both left in free agency, and the Falcons didn’t just use a first-round pick on Ridley to leave him on the bench for long.

Don’t rush to add Ridley to your one-year fantasy football team as a slot receiver within a talented position group, but he should draw a Week 1 start in a three-wide receiver set.

The Seattle Seahawks have a competitive group at running back. Rashaad Penny must look the part of a starter to take a leap forward on the depth chart. In the past season, Chris Carson and Mike Davis flashed in brief bright spots in the backfield.

Tipping the Giants off, particularly with their connections to the quarterback-hungry Bills’ front office, would have been risky. Breer writes the Jets were “willing to pay a little over the point value to get the third pick, in exchange for Indy keeping the talks confidential.” Indy, of course, was willing to take the haul it got from New York — multiple second-round picks — knowing it would cause a shift in the economics of the draft that would allow them to still net a blue-chip player at No. 6. Multiple quarterbacks would go early and one of Bradley Chubb, Barkley and Quenton Nelson (the player Indy preferred all along) would be available to them.

New Jersey is wasting no time in getting into the sports gambling game.

In less than two weeks, Monmouth Park will open a sports book and Cheap Braves Jerseys begin taking bets, the racetrack and casino has confirmed. The target date is Memorial Day, Monday, May 28. Dennis Drazin, president and CEO of the company that operates Monmouth Park, says his understanding is that once the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on sports gambling Cheap Authentic Baseball Jerseys outside Nevada, there’s nothing stopping Monmouth Park from taking bets immediately, even if New Jersey’s legislature hasn’t passed any state laws regulating gambling.

Cole released a single 80 Stings back in January, and the critical consensus from most people was that Beasley spit hot fire like Dylan.

We talked to Cole and his producer Phazz Clark… and CB says the toughest thing about being an athlete that raps is that he isn’t that at all.

For this album to be a success, for me it’s really just opening the door for people looking past the athlete trying to rap, to he’s just a rapper who happens to play football.

A season ago, rookie running back Christian McCaffrey led the Panthers in receptions with 80, though he averaged just 8.1 yards per reception. Wideout Devin Funchess, a possession receiver, was next with 63. He was followed by two players no longer with the team, Kelvin Benjamin (32 catches) and Ed Dickson (30), and Greg Olson, the big-play tight end who suffered a broken ankle and managed just 17 catches in seven games.

And a fun one: According to Baseball-Reference.com, an offensive team of nine Kris Bryants, combined with “average” pitching and defense, would feature a winning percentage of over .800.

The numbers go on and on, as they do for many elite hitters in baseball, but Bryant’s reduced strikeout rate sticks out the most.

The first year, I was chasing a lot more because you’re not used to seeing major league pitching, Bryant said. “Now you have a history; you know how the pitches move and you know what to swing at and what not to. It’s always a work in progress. I find myself chasing now, but sometimes you do have to give credit to the pitcher.”

That was the play — 12 seconds from snap to score — that caught the attention of Carolina wide receivers coach Lance Taylor. Amazing, is how Taylor described to ESPN.com’s David Newton Moore’s zig-zagging 92-yard touchdown against Nebraska in 2016. That Cheap Oakland Raiders Jerseys play was unbelievable. He should have been tackled at least 15 times and there’s only 11 Cheap Professional Sports Jerseys defensive players. There were a couple of guys that had multiple misses on the same play.

One of the very real — but largely overlooked — dynamics arising from the question of whether Cowboys tight end Jason Witten will retire relates to the money he already has received from the team.

Witten’s base salary is in the neighborhood of $1 million because he restructured his contract earlier this year by taking $4.7 million of it up front, in the form of a AFL Cheap Jerseys signing bonus. If he retires, Witten will have to pay it all back, with an important caveat.

Regardless, whether and to what extent the Cowboys would want the previously paid money back could (or at least should) be a factor in whether Witten walks away from football for an ESPN salary in the range of $4-4.5 million that would get him basically to zero if he has to write a giant check to Jerry Jones.

UPDATE 8:17 p.m. ET: Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the money hasn’t actually been paid to Witten yet. Regardless, his entitlement to it was triggered when he re-did his deal. Under the CBA, the Cowboys could still choose to let him have (keep) the money, if they want.

Defensive tackle Mike Purcell is the most experienced of the three players leaving the Chiefs, although he never played a regular season game in Kansas City. Purcell had 42 tackles in 25 games for the 49ers between 2014 and 2016, but never made it off the practice squad in his time with the Chiefs.

Cornerback Sheldon Price signed with the Chiefs in January after spending time on injured reserve with the Ravens last year and tight end Anthony Firkser did the same after a summer stint with the Jets. Both will be looking for other spots to continue their playing careers.

“But definitely, I’m ready to step up. … I’m ready to go.”

The 2016 second-rounder came at a time when Gates’ production began to wane, and his own has grown slowly. That was complicated by the lacerated kidney that cost him the last Best Place To Get Cheap Jerseys three games of the season, but he still caught 45 passes for 579 yards last year.

Russell very well might be the biggest draft bust in NFL history. Enamoured with Russell’s enticing combination of size (6-foot-5 1/2) and arm strength, the Raiders used the No. 1 overall pick on the former LSU standout. Quinn is among the 28 different starting quarterbacks that the Browns have had since 1999, and his stint in the top role was not smooth (3-9 as a starter). Smith was the 2006 Heisman winner but was not considered a top quarterback prospect. Stanton and Moore were the only two quarterbacks from this class to play in 2017.

Following Detroit’s addition of Arkansas offensive lineman Frank Ragnow in the first round, checking off the glaring need along the offensive line, here are 12 potential options on the second day of the draft.

Three running backs came off the board in the first round and Chubb is one of the two best remaining, along with LSU’s Derrius Guice. Will either of them make it to the Lions at 51? Tough to say. But Chubb would be an outstanding addition as a north-south runner with excellent vision and balance.

Looking for a long-term nose tackle? Settle checks off all the boxes. The 6-foot-3, 329-pounder isn’t easily moved on run downs, and offers some surprising ability to disrupt the backfield in passing situations when asked. Quinn has shown a preference for hefty interior lineman and they don’t get much bigger than this.

The Lions have a full depth chart at tight end following the additions of Luke Willson and Levine Toilolo, but both those guys are on one-year Cheap Gaa Jerseys deals. Goedert, who was frequently projected as a first-rounder early in Cheap DUKe Basketball Jerseys the pre-draft process, is extremely athletic and has dual-threat potential.

The Atlanta Falcons taking another Alabama wide receiver in Calvin Ridley to team with Julio Jones? Scary for the rest of the NFC South.

The result was that the first wide receiver went off the board later than in any draft since 2008, when none went at all in the first round. (For what it’s worth, the second-rounders that year included Jordy Nelson and DeSean Jackson; Pierre Garcon went in the sixth.)

Ridley was presumed by many to be the first wideout to go. He wasn’t — and the Falcons, who are practically the opposite of the Panthers in terms of weapons for their franchise quarterback, took him 26th.

The 5-foot-11, 229-pound Freeman comes with 4.54 40-yard dash speed and should compete immediately for the starting job when considering Denver’s current running back stable consists of Devontae Booker and De’Angelo Henderson Sr.

Freeman appeared in 12 games in 2017 and rushed for 1,475 yards and 16 touchdowns on 244 attempts, averaging 6 yards per carry, en route to a second-team All-Pac-12 selection. He was also a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award, which recognizes the nation’s top running back.

On his career at Oregon, Freeman appeared in 51 games with 46 starts, totaling 5,621 yards and 60 touchdowns on 947 carries (5.9 yards per attempt).

The 60 touchdowns established school and Pac-12 records. Freeman displayed versatility as a receiver out of the backfield with 79 catches for 814 yards and four touchdowns.

Freeman left Oregon with a decorated career as a two-time second-team All-Pac 12 selection (2014, 2017), a first-team All-Pac Cheap Braves Jerseys selection in 2015 and was the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2014.

The 2018 NFL Draft will undoubtedly be the biggest three-day event in league history. But will it better than last year’s spectacle in Philadelphia? Such responsibility falls largely on Peter O’Reilly’s shoulders. As the league’s senior vice president of events, O’Reilly and his crew have worked feverishly to insure things go as smooth as possible for the 400,000-plus people projected to attend either the draft itself or the numerous festivities being held for free Thursday through Saturday outside AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

One of those steps is the creation of an Inner Circle, in which 50 hand-picked fans from all 32 NFL teams will serve as draft ambassadors in a specifically designated area in front of where the picks will be announced. It’s stolen a little bit from the playbook of a political convention where every team is going to have its delegation of 50 fans seated by division where they can be going crazy supporting their team, O’Reilly said. I think that’s just going to create a whole new energy right around the stage where you’ve got those teams and get those rivalries in play.

This would be a case of going best player available even when there isn’t an easy fit for him on paper. It wouldn’t be a bad strategy. 4. Vita Vea, DT, Washington Defensive tackle, along with linebacker, is the Raiders’ biggest need. Vea is the space-eating defensive tackle the Raiders need if both of the top inside linebackers aren’t available. As it stands, the Raiders will be starting Justin Ellis at nose tackle.

Last year, Pro Football Focus graded him as the 45th-best interior defender. So yeah, the Raiders could use an upgrade at the interior of their defensive line. Prisco ranked Vea 11th — one spot behind Edmunds and four behind Smith — on his list of prospects, writing: He is a power player at 335 pounds who can also use his quickness to push the pocket. He is much more athletic than you would expect from a man his size.

Denzel Ward, CB, Ohio State Say all three of those players are off the board — a scenario that seems highly unlikely. But if that happens, the Raiders might be tempted to find a trade partner so that they can move back and acquire some extra draft ammunition. Or they could just take Denzel Ward, who would immediately become their best cornerback on the roster. They cut David Amerson. Their first-round pick a year ago, Gareon Conley, missed all but two games in his Cheap Atlanta Braves Jerseys rookie season. Even after signing Rashaan Melvin in free agency, they could use another starter. Ward is fourth on Prisco’s big Cheap Baseball Jerseys board.